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3 die in Colorado plane crash

GEORGETOWN, Colo. — A single-engine plane trying to make its way through a valley along Interstate 70 west of Denver crashed Monday, killing three people. The plane crashed close to the top of a chairlift but

The plane crashed close to the top of a Loveland Ski Area chairlift but did not hit the lift lines or damage the lift, according to ski area officials. The resort is closed for the season.

"I was hiking up near Herman Gulch," witness Rico Argentati said. "I was about 11,700 feet up. And I just stopped to take a break, and I heard this plane coming up the valley. I knew right away it was too low.

"It flew past Herman Gulch trailhead," he said. "It tried to turn around. It made a 180-degree turn to the left, and it dropped below the ridge of Mount Sniktau. And I said 'Oh my God, this plane is in trouble.' "

The next thing he saw was smoke from the plane's impact with the ground, which still has snow in spots.

The plane went into a tailspin and crashed into a forested area near a ski lift. Specific details about the type of plane, its speed and altitude were not immediately available, according to a Clear Creek County Sheriff's spokesman. The plane's identification numbers were destroyed in the fire, and authorities don't have any details yet about where it was headed.

"There's very little if anything left of the aircraft," said Capt. Randy Long of the Clear Creek Sheriff's Office.

That includes a lack of a tail number, to help investigators track down who the plane was registered to and who may have been piloting it. Based on the time of the crash and the direction the plane was traveling, the NTSB believes it took off from Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Broomfield, Colo. A plane fitting its description left around 7:30 a.m. heading toward Moab, Utah — though, investigators were not sure whether the pilot filed a flight plan.

They are now trying to track down who the plane belonged to by using registration numbers on the surviving parts of the aircraft. Once that happens, the investigation will turn to the plane itself and the pilot.

"We take a hard look into human performance and we take a look at the pilot's background, experience. We look at the weather conditions," said the NTSB's David Bowling.

Other planes have crashed in that area, according to Greg Feith, a Denver aviation-safety consultant who also is an aircraft accident investigator. Pilots follow I-70 thinking they have a clear path through the mountains but forget about the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel goes under the Continental Divide near Loveland Pass about 55 miles west of Denver.

When pilots come to the tunnel, they realize that they have to turn left or right because they don't have enough lift to climb about 12,000 feet over mountains, he said.

The county coroner is at the scene, and investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board are headed to the crash site at about 11,000 feet above sea level. Investigators have not determined the cause of Monday's crash, and its victims have not been identified.